Localizing memory scapes, building a nation: Commemorating the second world war in Singapore

Abstract

This thesis concerns itself with the way the Singapore state remembers its involvement in the Second World War, and the politics of space associated with the production and consumption of a??locala?? war memoryscapes. Specifically, the thesis deals with three issues. First, it explores how the state has tried to mobilize its memories of the war a?? no less as a tool of nation-building a?? through the manipulation of its war memorials, the problems that emerged and how the state has sought to mitigate them. Second, it examines if there is a culture of commemoration among Singaporeans, and the extent to which a??localsa?? are in line with the state in their perceptions of how the war should be remembered. Third, through an analysis of two case studies, the thesis argues how such memoryscapes can be seen as three-way contested terrains among the state, its plural population and global actors that lie beyond the territorial map of the nation.